No Educator Left Behind is a series providing answers from the U.S. Department of Education to questions about the federal No Child Left Behind Act and how it will affect educators. If you have a question about No Child Left Behind, send an e-mail to Ellen Delisio, and we will submit your question to the Department of Education.

Question:

How can schools that exceed state standards show adequate yearly progress when statistically they do not have enough room to improve?

U.S. Department of Education:

Every school has room to improve unless "almost every student" is proficient. If that is the case, then the school does not have to meet the adequate yearly progress section of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.

Here is what the NCLB act says under section 1116(b)(1)(C) of Title I: Requirements for identifying schools for school improvement shall not apply to a school if almost every student in each group specified in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) enrolled in such school is meeting or exceeding the state's proficient level of academic achievement.

This follows the section of the law that states that a local educational agency shall identify for school improvement any elementary school or secondary school served under Title I that fails, for two consecutive years, to make adequate yearly progress as defined in the state's plan under section 1111(b)(2).

Read previous questions and answers in our No Educator Left Behind archive.